


And the band played on

by MalcolmInSpace



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-03 23:06:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6630709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalcolmInSpace/pseuds/MalcolmInSpace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a rough day for Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, but most days in Mos Eisley aren't great.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And the band played on

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Melody_Jade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melody_Jade/gifts).



The green room in the back of Chalmun's Cantina was unusual, as the green rooms in shithole bars on shithole planets went, in that the walls were actually green.  Figrin D'an, leader of the Modal Nodes and the best damn kloo horn player on this whole damn planet, was pretty sure that was because the walls were growing something that just happened to be green, but at this point he wasn't overly picky.  Nalan Cheel and Ickabel G'ont, on the other hand, had a great deal to complain about, apparently. 

"We just watched someone _die_ ," Nalan was saying, his voice climbing dangerously high, "And we just kept playing music!  I can't _do_ this anymore!  We need to leave this place!" 

"Oh, please," Ickabel shot back in a withering tone, "That was hardly the first murder we've been background accompaniment to.  How many did we see fed to that damned rancor alone?" 

"That's different!" Nalan whined, and Ickabel rolled her eyes.  "That's a gangster offing bad people, and I didn't have to watch.  That Aqualish got his arm cut of by a laser sword!" 

Doikk Na'ts put down his drink and raised his somewhat foggy gaze up to Nalan and Ickabel.  "It's called a lightsabre, you know." 

"Shut up, Doikk," Nalan and Ickabel said in unison.  Doikk gave them an obscene gesture and went back to drinking himself into a stupour. 

"And it's not just that," Nalan continued, "it's that Rodian, Greedo, too." 

"Oh come on," Ickabel retorted, "We saw him around Jabba's lots. He was a wannabe gun thug like the rest of them." 

"No, it's not that.  Did you see Wuher's little droid stealing the body, dragging it down to Wuher's lab!  I bet Wuher's going to make Greedo into the drinks or something."  This proclamation was shouted down by the whole band.  Doikk threw snacks.  Nalan began to sniffle and went to sulk in a corner. 

Figrin sighed and closed his eyes.  Tedn was massaging his cranium, but even those skillful fingers couldn't ease his headache.  He closed his eyes and tried to imagine playing on a grand stage somewhere, maybe Coruscant, but all he could hear was Nalan's overdramatic choking sobs, Doikk slurping and the distant, insufficiently muted thumping of whatever awful music Wuher was playing during their break.  Nalan was right. 

There was a sudden quiet, and Figrin realized he'd spoken aloud.  He looked up to see the rest of the band staring at him.  He cleared his throat and repeated himself.  "Nalan's right. Not about Greedo and Wuher, that's just ridiculous.  We need to get out of this place, off this planet before we're the ones who end up getting shot or fed to a monster or sliced up by a laser sword-" 

"Lightsabre!" Doikk interjected. 

"Whatever, Doikk.  Point is, we need off this dusty ball of rock." 

"You know what I hate about sand," asked Doikk's partner in stupefaction, Sun'il E'ide.  "It gets-" 

"Nobody cares, Sun'Iil.  Now, we've got some savings, but not enough for passage off-world.  Now, I could probably take those to the tables and double or even-" 

"NO!" the entire band yelled in unison.  Doikk threw snacks. 

"Well, fine, what's your great plan," he snarked back.  "How do any of you plan to get the funds we need?  Huh?  No one?  That's what I thought."  He slumped back into his chair and batted Tedn's suddenly passionless hands away.  They were are tired, cranky, and desperate to get off this benighted rock.  So, par for the course. 

There came a banging on the green room door.  "Two minutes," growled a harsh human voice.  Their curtain call.  They all heaved themselves to their feet, or at least an approximation thereof in the case of Doikk and Sun'il.  But then Sun'il was just the drummer, so it's not like she need to be all that coordinated. 

As they walked down the short corridor, Tedn held Figrin up a moment, holding Figrin's hand in his own.  "Thanks for leading us as always," Tedn said.  "We can always count on you to be steady in the bad times.   Well, usually.  Mostly. " 

Figrin chuckled.  "Unflappable, that's me.  It's why they call me 'Steely D'an'." 

"Nobody calls you that," Tedn replied with a smirk.  Figrin laughed and they walked out onto the stage. 

And so the band played on. 

**Author's Note:**

> I was super pleased to get Figrin D'an in the drop. I offered for him the second I saw him in the list.
> 
> If you're familiar with Figrin as it is, you may notice that I've ignored some elements of what happened to him, in canon. This is deliberate.


End file.
